Your First Date - what age?

[Slartibartfast]

My parents intended to be strict "not until you're 16" types, but my 7th grade year our school pioneered a new program where we could take health class in 7th or 8th grade and waive the requirement to take it in 10th.  The 10th grade class was a joke - it was entirely focused on the evils of sex, but most kids who were interested in experimenting with those particular evils had figured it out long before 10th grade.  My middle school health class covered sex ed, but it was more focused on things like healthy relationships, eating habits, body image, etc.

Anyway, as a result of the class, I ended up sitting down with my parents and having some long discussions ("birds and the bees" and the like) and they decided I was allowed to date.  I started going out with my first boyfriend a few weeks later    Not sure what our first first date was, but mostly we watched movies and just hung out and occasionally talked our parents into driving us to a cheap restaurant.  It was all really innocent (hadn't gotten to 10th grade yet  ) but I dated him for over a year!

[lilfox]

I was 15, a sophomore, and he was a senior.  We went to the movies.  I know he had to drive a while (30-40 min) to get to my house but I don't even think we had dinner, just the movie.  I think he brought me flowers though.  Later in the semester we went to the fall girls-ask-boys dance and Homecoming together, and after that it kind of fizzled.  The whole thing was so innocent, all shy glances and hand holding.  I was flattered that he liked me and he was really sweet, but I was just not ready to date.  I felt so self conscious all the time with him and looking back, I can't remember having any kind of real conversation with him.

[Palladium]

I was 19 (also a slightly late bloomer), we'd been part of the same social group at uni for a year or so before he asked me out while on a pubcrawl (that's a whole other story). I'd had a crush on him for ages, and we went to dinner and drinks.

I've never been on a date with anyone else. We've now been together for 13 years and married for 3. 

[TZ]

I was 16. My "gentleman caller," as my mom still refers to him, was 18. For our first date, we went to...the grocery store. Food 4 Less, to be specific. He didn't have a car and needed to go shopping. The relationship didn't get any better from there and ended very quickly.

I also went to the 8th grade dance with a date when I was 14, but that doesn't really count.

[Sebastienne]

We were both 14. We'd been "dating" at summer camp, which mostly meant holding hands while walking to the dining hall, and arranged to go to a movie and dinner on the day camp ended before we went home.  I believe the movie was Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and dinner was at The Olive Garden, with his mom. Romantic.

But we ended up dating for another two years--the entire time living an hour away from each other. We were too young to drive, so one set of our poor parents would make the trek every two weeks or so, for our romantic mall and chain restaurant dates. He's still one of my best friends, though, and our parents still send Christmas cards. I think my mom still prefers him to my actual husband.

[Fleur]

This is one of those interesting US vs UK cultural differences, I think. I never really went on dates. I hung out with guys and played Scrabble in high school ( I think that the US also has a stronger culture of abstinence) but they were not official dates. I didn't go on one of those until I was eighteen and in university.

[faithlessone]

Depends what counts as a "date", really

It was a 'thing' at my school for a boy and girl to go to the local coffee shop, get a drink, then sit in the park or by the river together. The first time I did that I was about 15/16? They were never really called "dates" though.

I also had "dates" to the school dances, but again, they weren't anything official. Having a date didn't stop you dancing with other guys, and (at least in my and my friends' cases) didn't mean anything serious was going to happen afterwards, either.

The first time I had an actual official date, I was 18. It was just after I started university, and a cute guy in his second year asked me out to a local restaurant. It was a total disaster. He insisted on walking (about a mile and a half), which killed my feet in their pretty little sandals. Then he talked about himself all evening, barely letting me get a word in edgeways. He also laughed at me when I couldn't use chopsticks. (I'd never had to use them before). I ended up breaking it off early, and didn't go out with him again.

[Melle]

21, we went to the movies. Sadly, I found out that I am not relationship material the very same day and it stayed that way ever since :/

[*inviteseller]

We were 13, his mom drove us and then she sat in the back row.  We say Amityville Horror (the original) and he did the stretch put his arm around me move...smooth!  LOL  After that, it was always just groups of us until I was 17 and fell in love the first time.

[Thipu1]

18.  I wasn't asked out on a date until I was in College.  My High School was coed and I attended a women's College.  Go figure.

We met at the Wedding of a mutual friend and dated for about five years on and off.

This was in the mid 1960s and people in our little town tended to marry very young.  Not even dating until 18 pretty much branded me as a nun. 

[guihong]

21 and in college.  We went to an Italian restaurant complete with the checkered tablecloths and candles in wine bottles with the wax dripping down.   After that, he was president of the Spelunking (caving) club, so we went to a meeting. 

[nuit93]

I was 17 and had already graduated high school.

My mother very strongly discouraged dating before adulthood, mainly because she didn't want to have to deal with all the other 'issues' (basically the potential of her children playing scrabble while she was still legally responsible for them) that came with it.  Since I was out of HS this was 'close enough'.  It was with a good friend of mine that I'd hoped would become more, I think she did too (her husband, on the other hand, was appalled since my date was not of the same race as me).

We went to a late-night improv show.  It was a blast!

[at5115]

Ha.  My first "date" was in High School - my senior year (I was 17).  I don't even know if the gentleman in question (a swimmer at a different HS) even knew it was a date   I asked him to go with me in the interest of "partner dynamics"   (there was a reason I didn't really date until college!)  I remember that he was driving on a suspended license and we were partners in a class we shared at an afternoon school that pulled in students from different districts.  We went to see Sponge and Our Lady Peace.  And he talked about some girl he'd met that summer.  I caught the hint

[magicdomino]

I was 17, he was 19.  My sister arranged the first date as a kind of group date with her, her boyfriend, my niece (who is older than I am), and niece's boyfriend.  My niece found my date, and matched us up.     Somehow, my sister got underaged me into a nightclub.  I think I even had a "wine cooler" (white wine in 7-Up).

Second date was without relatives.  I think we went to a movie.

[Mikayla]

I was 16 and he was a popular senior.  I was so stoked!  We went to a movie and out to a Friday's type place for dinner.  I was eating a club sandwich with those toothpicks in it and I forgot to remove the toothpicks.  One went up my nose and seriously damaged the lining, causing a nosebleed that was epic.  At 16, there's no humor in this - only horror!

We ended up dating for 3 more years, including college.